He – did not love sufficiently: otherwise he would also have loved us, the laughers!

In fact, in society the man who laughs totally – a belly laugh – is not respected. You have to look serious; that shows that you are civilized and sane. Laughing is for children and for the insane, or for the primitive.

I cannot conceive that Jesus ever laughed in his life. Of course, he cannot laugh on the cross; for that, a far greater man is needed – perhaps a Zarathustra – because there have been people who have laughed on the cross. Just go into any church and see Jesus on the cross. Naturally he is serious, and his seriousness fills the whole church; to laugh there seems to be out of place. There is no mention anywhere that Jesus ever laughed in his life; it is obvious that the only begotten son of God has to be very serious. Nobody has ever heard that God has laughed either.

Jesus cannot laugh because he is full of expectations; and those expectations are going to turn into frustrations. Even on the cross he was waiting for a miracle – for a hand to come out of the clouds and take him down from the cross, and prove to the world, “I cannot watch my only begotten son being crucified. I sent him to save you, and you are misbehaving with my own son. Your behavior is unforgivable.”

On the cross he shouted, looking at the sky when nothing was happening, “Father, have you forsaken me? Have you forgotten me?” Naturally, such a man cannot laugh. His life is going to be a life of continual frustrations. He expects too much.

Children can laugh because they don’t expect anything. Because they don’t expect anything, their eyes have a clarity to see things – and the world is full of so much absurdity, ridiculousness. There is so much slipping on banana peels, that a child cannot avoid seeing it! It is our expectations which function like curtains on our eyes.

Because all the religions are against life, they cannot be for laughter. Laughter is an essential part of life and love. Religions are against life, against love, against laughter, against joy; they are against everything that can make life a tremendous experience of benediction and blessings.